05/10/2023 - The bodies satisfied with the European Parliament's recent adjustments on Article 20 of the set of rules include the likes of FERA, SAA, FSE and Europa International

In a joint press release, ten European audiovisual and cultural organisations welcomed the clarifications brought by the European Parliament on Article 20 of the European Media Freedom Act, voted in plenary on 3 October. In detail, the improvements “highlight the positive commitment of the Parliament to maintain obligations in favour of creation, taking into account the concerns of the audiovisual and cultural sectors.”

Moreover, the press release underscores how this move will “prevent the provision of this article being used to challenge or weaken ambitious cultural policies set out by Member States to promote European audiovisual creation.”

Back in June, 73 European and national organisations from the audiovisual and cultural sectors addressed the Commission, Council and Parliament with a joint letter. In it, the signatories expressed their concerns that the Commission’s proposal for the European Media Freedom Act would “embed national cultural policies into internal market rules, which could end up disrupting key policies implemented by Member States to support film and TV creation and local ecosystems.”

Therefore, Article 20 is “now restricted to measures liable to affect media pluralism and the editorial independence of media service providers,” with recital 38 clarifying that the provision “does not aim to affect national measures implementing Directive 2010/13/EU, in so far as they do not affect media pluralism and editorial independence, national measures taken pursuant to Article 167 TFEU, national measures taken for the purpose of promoting European works or national measures which are otherwise governed by State aid rules.”

Moreover, the signatories expressed satisfaction on how the improved text “strengthens the complementarity” between the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (defined as “the cornerstone of European media law, fostering European creation, production and distribution”) and the European Media Freedom Act (“a much-needed legislation to protect media freedom, independence and pluralism, as well as journalists).

The bodies welcoming the revised text are CEPI, Eurocinema, Europa International, ECSA, FERA, SAA, FSE, EURO FIA, UNI MEI and the European Coalitions for Cultural Diversity.

“Our organisations thank the Culture Committee rapporteur Sabine Verheyen and shadow rapporteurs Petra Kammerevert, Irena Joveva, Diana Riba I Giner, Andrey Slabakov and Stelios Kouloglou for having reached a satisfactory compromise on this important provision of the EMFA. We trust the trilogue negotiations will take into consideration the willingness of both the Parliament and the Council to find the right approach to preserve media pluralism, freedom of expression and cultural diversity across Europe,” the signatories sum up.